In a world of increasing healthcare costs, availability of affordable health insurance is a driving factor in decisions affecting a wide spectrum of issues—from quality of life, to personal finances and family planning. The basic principles of health insurance have long remained the same—a person subscribes to a health insurance policy, often through his employer, and pays the insurance company a premium in exchange for coverage under the policy's terms. In addition to receiving some type of assurance that their healthcare services will be paid for, subscribers additionally typically receive the benefit of a lower price for those services, as participating healthcare providers generally are under contract with the insurance company to limit the maximum amount the insurance company will pay the provider for particular services rendered.
Although the basic principles of health insurance may not have changed, increasing costs of healthcare have created opportunities for many variations and nuances beyond the basic principles in order to more adequately serve the needs of health insurance consumers. These variations include different types of plans, such as POS, PPO, and HMO, all geared toward providing various deductible limits, co-payment amounts, coinsurance rates, and specific benefit limits. Moreover, the options for purchasing health insurance coverage are also expanding. In particular, as the nature of employment and employee-based benefits is changing, more consumers are looking for individual health insurance options to protect themselves and their families.
Continuity and affordability of healthcare coverage remains central to all healthcare consumers. This is particularly the case for individuals that find themselves between jobs or in employment settings without group healthcare coverage. Similarly, healthcare consumers that are planning an early retirement face the prospect of losing group coverage upon retirement and need to arrange for alternate coverage prior to becoming eligible for an assisted healthcare plan, such as Medicare. Individual health coverage options available to consumers to fill these gaps typically are subject to some form of underwriting, which subjects the consumer to a possibility of increased premiums or denial of coverage in the event the consumer is in poor health or has been diagnosed with a serious health condition at the time coverage is sought.